HS2 adopts project-wide digital health and safety ‘passport’

HS2 will introduce a digital health and safety ‘passport’ that will be used by all main works civils contractors on the project to share health and safety information.

Midlands-based company Biosite is working with HS2 to
develop the ‘Health and Safety Passport System’ (HSPS).

Biosite will link biometric data directly to operative information and site access for real-time visibility and traceability. Operatives will be required to complete a central online pre-induction before undertaking a local site induction and provide biometric information to generate their global identification or digital ‘passport’. HS2 claimed it would be the first time that workforce data will be available to view across a major project via a consolidated platform. The data collated can also be anonymised and provide a learning legacy for future major projects.

HS2 said the new system would allow it to establish a
central database of critical workforce information across its supply chain,
with many contractors and their staff working across multiple sites and
multiple projects on the high-speed rail project.

The new system aims to ensure that only operatives with the
correct credentials and skills are permitted access to site. It will also allow
HS2 to track workforce data around areas such as competency mapping, health and
safety assessments and fatigue management across the whole project.

Where supplier companies and operatives are working across
multiple locations, the new system will flag fatigue risks across the project,
HS2 said. The software will also de-duplicate worker profiles to establish a
single record for each operative, including as they potentially move between
contractors working on the project.

Emma Head, HS2’s safety and assurance director said: “Health and safety is at the heart of everything we do as we build Britain’s new high-speed railway. We aim to lead by innovation at HS2 and the new Health and Safety Passport System is a pioneering way for us to further our best practice approach to workforce health and safety management. We are pleased to be working with Biosite to deliver the initiative, bringing workforce management for complex projects such as HS2 to the next level.”

Li Wang, managing director at Biosite Systems, said: “We
were able to utilise our experience working across HS2 projects to-date to
recommend a software solution that will bring together silos of data from JV
projects in a central, cloud-based portal through a combination of online
induction, biometric data capture through various access control points at site
level, and business intelligence software. The solution will focus on ensuring
data integrity and synchronicity at every point, to ensure the team at HS2 have
access to accurate data that will deliver valuable insight and help support
project safety, efficiency and compliance.”

The HS2 HSPS initiative is scheduled to go live in spring
2021 with HS2’s main works civils contractors working on Phase One. It will
then be rolled out across the project including to the station construction partner
contractors.